1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to test technology for testing computer networks, and, more particularly, relates to a network verification tool for testing network software, hardware or network design in a controlled, realistic networking environment.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Networks are extensively tested in order to evaluate networks (e.g., hardware, software or network designs) before deploying the proposed network design. Most network users need to evaluate new hardware and software before the hardware or software is implemented in the networking environment. Preferably, acceptance tests of new hardware and software are desirable before that hardware and software is purchased for use in a particular networking environment. One particular difficulty for most network operators is that they do not have the ability to create a consolidated view of their production networks in a testing environment that yields performance results indicative of the behavior of the tested portion of the environment in actual use. Testing new hardware, software or network designs on a production network itself is often prohibitively disruptive.
Although many test tools (e.g., traffic generators, traffic analyzers, large network emulators, session emulators and the like) are known, they are complex, have a steep learning curve, and are not consolidated under a single framework. They are, therefore, cumbersome to use and do not easily cooperate with one another to create a consistent testing environment. A network administrator's ability to adequately test software, hardware or network designs is therefore complicated by difficulties in integrating multiple independent test packages into one realistic testing environment.
Therefore, there is a need for a comprehensive and easy to use test tool that consolidates the various network tests within a single versatile framework, allows network users to easily evaluate hardware, software and network design in a lab network environment that closely approximates their own production environment, and allows repeatable testing of software, hardware and network configurations.